TOEFL is an acronym for ‘Test of English as a Foreign Language’ and is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). It is a standardized examination that measures English proficiency in terms of reading, speaking, listening, writing and understanding, especially of non-native English speakers. TOEFL scores are accepted by more than 1100 universities, organizations and other institutions such as immigration departments, medical and licensing agencies, etc. It is widely accepted in over 150 countries that are best to study abroad which includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, the U.K., all across Europe and Asia.
The TOEFL exam is conducted in two formats. These are:
As the name suggests, TOEFL Internet Based Test is conducted online and is the most preferred medium of the examination. Around 97% of TOEFL takers choose to undertake iBT. This test is conducted very frequently throughout the year at multiple locations. It is made of four sections: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. All the four sections are completed at a test centre with internet facility. You will read from the screen, listen from your headset, record speech into a microphone, and type written responses on a keyboard. So, it is completely computer based with no usage of pen or paper.
This type of test is very rarely taken by the TOEFL applicants. It is generally conducted in areas that do not have access to the internet and is offered 4 times each year. Also, this examination differs in structure. It is not similar to iBT in the sense that it consists of only 3 sections, namely reading, listening and writing. The test is about 2.5 hours long unlike the iBT which is 3.5- 4 hours long. The structure of the test is as follows:
Reading Section: There are 3 passages with 10 multiple choice questions from each passage. You do not have more than 54 minutes to answer these questions.
Listening Section: This section contains 2 conversations and 3 lectures and about 28 questions that needs to be answered in approximately 41 minutes.
Writing Section: This section demands you to write two constructed responses in about 50 minutes.
It does not have a speaking section because of the lack of technological requirements. Therefore, most universities do not prefer TOEFL PBT scores.